Wrongfully arrested builder awarded £10k in damages

One builder who, upon being mistakenly arrested for taking photographs of a bank, suffered a cracked rib and bruising across his body, has received a personal injury compensation award of £10,000.

Anthony Finnegan, a forty nine year old amateur photographer and builder by trade from Castlefields, Shressbury, had been snapping photos in Shrewsbury town centre of period buildings when police officers approached him, demanding a reason from the man as to why he had been taking photographs of a bank. In a recent interview with the Guardian newspaper, Mr Finnegan recounted how he was searched by police before being thrown to the ground, where an officer wedged a knee into his back, forcing his face down into a puddle while the he was handcuffed.

The builder sustained cuts and bruises all over his body as well as a cracked rib from his rough treatment at the hands of the police. His ordeal lasted seven hours and resulted in his release from his cell when all his criminal charges were dropped. Mr Finnegan wasted no time in taking legal advice from personal injury lawyers specialising in civil rights violations and decided to launch a compensation claim naming West Mercia Police as defendants in the legal proceeding.

Police officials have since admitted full liability for the wrongful arrest. Included in the terms of the settlement are both a compensation award of £10,000 and a promise to erase any of Mr Finnegan’s arrest records as well, though a West Mercia Police spokesperson would not comment further due to the ongoing nature of the legal process.